Yeah, noticed something was weird in the latest build. Just on regular albums, tracks would end abruptly and next one would start right up. So I just went back to previous build and things are perfect again. I'll upgrade once this bug is worked out and icon has been updated with status indicator.

This version renamed BetterSound to BitPerfect to avoid any confusion with the preferences pane plug-in. I'm going with the BitPerfect name since it hasn't been taken and is the term used by audiophiles to describe what they want their player to be or to do. There's also a new e-mail address, bitperfectsound@gmail.com.

Changes Include:

Rename to BitPerfect

Add new app icons (thanks Doug!)

Make status icon reflect the enabled/disabled state of BitPerfect

Do not write audio into unused streams on complex DACs

Make gapless playback more ironclad

Fix incorrect output stream use on "complex" DACs

Fix support for DACs with more than 2 output channels

Fix constant replaying of same audio clip when update track position is disabled

Fix use maximum device buffer size not doing anything

Fix intermittent blip in audio when switching playback buffer

Fix gapless playback not being anywhere near gapless

I'm hoping to submit this version to the app store, barring any major problems. If so, further updates will be via the store, hopefully pretty frequently unless Apple get in the way. I'm pretty sure the Mac App Store lets me create promo codes so that I can give away free copies to everyone who has helped get BitPerfect this far. That means, bug reporters, Doug the graphics guru, feature suggesters, folks offering encouragement, reviewers, etc... a pretty loose definition of help -- I want to get free copies to as many of my fellow head-fi'ers as possible . Depending on how many codes they let me create I'll also do a giveaway thread if/when the app is accepted.

Thanks for all your help and keep the feedback coming!

EDIT: Forgot to mention, this version fixes support for "complex" DACs. As far as I know, BitPerfect should now work on all DACs.

I've been using 0.21, I'll see if I still get this in 0.22... but, I'm getting a soft "pop" between tracks. Almost like a slight DC offset between tracks, but obviously this isn't possible. This is most evident on albums which decay to the background acoustic of the space in which they were recorded at the end of each track. So basically I get the "room noise" from the recording, then a soft pop, then the new track starts.

This version renamed BetterSound to BitPerfect to avoid any confusion with the preferences pane plug-in. I'm going with the BitPerfect name since it hasn't been taken and is the term used by audiophiles to describe what they want their player to be or to do. There's also a new e-mail address, bitperfectsound@gmail.com.

Changes Include:

Rename to BitPerfect

Add new app icons (thanks Doug!)

Make status icon reflect the enabled/disabled state of BitPerfect

Do not write audio into unused streams on complex DACs

Make gapless playback more ironclad

Fix incorrect output stream use on "complex" DACs

Fix support for DACs with more than 2 output channels

Fix constant replaying of same audio clip when update track position is disabled

Fix use maximum device buffer size not doing anything

Fix intermittent blip in audio when switching playback buffer

Fix gapless playback not being anywhere near gapless

I'm hoping to submit this version to the app store, barring any major problems. If so, further updates will be via the store, hopefully pretty frequently unless Apple get in the way. I'm pretty sure the Mac App Store lets me create promo codes so that I can give away free copies to everyone who has helped get BitPerfect this far. That means, bug reporters, Doug the graphics guru, feature suggesters, folks offering encouragement, reviewers, etc... a pretty loose definition of help -- I want to get free copies to as many of my fellow head-fi'ers as possible . Depending on how many codes they let me create I'll also do a giveaway thread if/when the app is accepted.

Thanks for all your help and keep the feedback coming!

EDIT: Forgot to mention, this version fixes support for "complex" DACs. As far as I know, BitPerfect should now work on all DACs.

Gapless now works quite well, but I'm still having the problem with tracks that *aren't* flagged as gapless ending early. For example, the last track of Claude Bolling's "Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano" goes right up to the last few seconds on the CD / track. The last note is completely cut off (i.e., the track stops playing about 3-4 seconds early). Again, you really don't hear this on most tracks because there are usually a few seconds "padding" at the end and you just don't notice - but it's doing this on all tracks.

OK, new error in build 22. Clicking on the track progress bar to seek in iTunes causes the audio to stop going to my USB DAC and suddenly start coming from the laptop speakers. When I then go into BitPerfect's preferences, the out output device has been changed to Built In Output. Stopping BitPerfect, changing this setting back to my DAC, then clicking Play in iTunes again restores the audio to where it belongs. Note that I can't *make* BP do this, it just happens about one out of every 15-20 seeks.

On the other hand, with build 22, I'm NOT getting the soft pop between tracks anymore.

OK, new error in build 22. Clicking on the track progress bar to seek in iTunes causes the audio to stop going to my USB DAC and suddenly start coming from the laptop speakers. When I then go into BitPerfect's preferences, the out output device has been changed to Built In Output. Stopping BitPerfect, changing this setting back to my DAC, then clicking Play in iTunes again restores the audio to where it belongs. Note that I can't *make* BP do this, it just happens about one out of every 15-20 seeks.

On the other hand, with build 22, I'm NOT getting the soft pop between tracks anymore.

Thanks for the bug report. I'm not sure what to make of that, will have to think on it.

The soft popping *could* be related to the device buffer size, which now works. If the problem recurs, try fiddling with that setting.

Gapless now works quite well, but I'm still having the problem with tracks that *aren't* flagged as gapless ending early. For example, the last track of Claude Bolling's "Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano" goes right up to the last few seconds on the CD / track. The last note is completely cut off (i.e., the track stops playing about 3-4 seconds early). Again, you really don't hear this on most tracks because there are usually a few seconds "padding" at the end and you just don't notice - but it's doing this on all tracks.

So, if you take tracks that are marked as gapless, unmark them and try again, will this problem affect them? By any chance, are you running the iOS 5 pre-release of iTunes? There is a similar problem with that version, but most people haven't got access to it.

I'd say wait on the App Store for now. I mean, you're still getting bug reports. I'd give it a week of no reports with the current feature-set before you put it into the store. I guarantee people are going to throw bugs up once you do and you want to keep that to a minimum. Plus, if there are a couple glaring outstanding bugs then you're likely to get a number of bad reviews. Which would suck.

So, if you take tracks that are marked as gapless, unmark them and try again, will this problem affect them? By any chance, are you running the iOS 5 pre-release of iTunes? There is a similar problem with that version, but most people haven't got access to it.

OK, I see what's happening.

As I mentioned before, gapless albums now play fine and regular tracks *with another track to follow in the playlist or in the queue* play fine, as well. It's only when you play a single track or the last track in a playlist / album that the problem is seen. I have "Update Track Position in iTunes" turned on, and at -0:05 seconds, you can see the current track stop tracking and it skips to the next track, but the current track continues playing (like the sound is buffered and BitPerfect is reading ahead but continuing to play the current track). If you're on the last track of an album / playlist, however, tracking still stops at -0:05 but the sounds stops, too :/ So any content recorded in the last 5 seconds of the track just disappears, e.g., echo / fade, "ambiance" or even music, if it runs into the last 5 seconds of the track. This does *not* happen in iTunes with BitPerfect turned off (iTunes 10.3.1).

I can also confirm BitPerfect sometimes loses track of the current output device. I have a USB DAC / headphone amp I sometimes use with my MacBook Pro. Sometimes, the sound will stop coming out of the DAC and begin coming out of the internal speakers. If I look at the preferences, I see it's switched to "Built-In Output".